Seller wants me to text in order to purchase

[cmry3556]

Seller wants me to text him before I purchase.....red flag?

[inceptions]

Yes. I would find another seller.

[gosimus · Accepted solution]

@cmry3556 

< Seller wants me to text him before I purchase.....red flag? >     

I had my answer just about typed up before I noticed you said the seller wants you to text him.  It's usually a false "buyer" who wants to lead the seller into conversation off eBay, so there won't be a paper trail when he cheats the seller.  I can think of a couple of reasons a seller might want to text. 

One of them is to persuade you to buy the item off eBay.  If you do that, you don't have any of eBay's buyer protections... maybe that's what the seller wants.  This is bad and it's a policy violation that could get both of you suspended. 

Another is to inform/offer to sell you other items off eBay.  Not the one you saw in his listing, but other items he has, that aren't listed.  I don't know if this is an explicit policy violation ... I'm pretty sure eBay wouldn't like it, because they don't get a fee, but they wouldn't know, so there's that. 

[tenbigdogs]

Hi @cmry3556   What's in it for you?  Nothing.  If the seller will cheat eBay, they'll cheat you, too.  Good luck!